iNNBeauty Project lands minority investment from Strand Equity and Beechwood Capital to support Sephora rollout.
WHO: iNNBeauty Project was founded in 2019 by beauty industry veterans Alisa Metzger and Jen Shane to make efficacious clean products more affordable to Gen Z consumers. The brand launched DTC and expanded with Credo in 2020.
WHY: The brand plans to use the money from the investment as it expands with Sephora in North America to 490 stores and 200 Sephora x Kohl's locations and build out their team. The deal also brings on investors that have successfully navigated the Sephora landscape before.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: "The beauty editor community is notoriously difficult to impress, so the reason we are receiving so much support is because our products truly perform," said Shane, co-founder of iNNBeauty Project. "At iNNBeauty Project, we custom build every formula from the ground up and take a holistic and creative approach to helping each skin concern. I thoroughly research the latest active ingredients and manufacturing processes and review medical journals to find proven ingredients often overlooked by skincare brands. This gives our products the superior efficacy, innovative textures, and ingredient stories that consumers are actively looking for. I am passionate about making high-quality, clean formulations with exceptional efficacy accessible to a wider audience. Quality skincare shouldn't have to be reserved for special occasions."
“Our time is now! With the omnichannel expansion into Sephora and Sephora x Kohl's we have an incredible opportunity to become a household name. We are committed to investing in People, Product, and Process. Bringing on key roles in operations and finance, as well as investing in marketing, will allow us to flawlessly execute our Sephora launch and introduce our brand to millions of consumers," said Metzger, co-founder of iNNBeauty Project. "Our emphasis on innovation is always at the heart of everything we do; we will continue to amplify our core products and blow consumers away with new formulations. Jen and I are thrilled to have Strand Equity and Beechwood Capital as our partners. They have incredible knowledge of the beauty space and acutely understand the power of Sephora. Their confidence in and support of our vision will help our push into new retail doors, allowing us to become more accessible to the masses.”
"iNNBeauty Project is showing the beauty industry that clean, effective skincare can also be kind to your wallet and the planet. We're incredibly thrilled to partner with Alisa, Jen, and their growing team as they build the next iconic beauty brand," said George Song, Vice President at Strand Equity.
“Beechwood Capital is excited to partner with iNNBeauty Project as they continue to expand their product line, their team and launch into Sephora and Sephora X Kohl's," states Larry Kahn, Managing Partner, Beechwood Capital. "We were blown away by Alisa and Jen's vision, the brand's unique selling proposition, and believe that the roster of products fill a long-standing gap in the market for truly efficacious, simple ritual-based skincare products at an accessible price point.”
TRIBE DYNAMICS EMV: INNBeauty Project netted $1.6MM EMV in Q4, enjoying quarter-over- quarter and year-over-year growths of 12% and 156%, respectively. Throughout the quarter, influencers hyped the vegan and cruelty-free skincare brand’s new availability at Sephora, with #iNNBeautyPartners sharing their product hauls and promoting the brand’s offerings as ideal holiday gifts. In all, posts mentioning “Sephora” accounted for nearly half ($749.2kK EMV) of iNNBeauty Project’s Q4 haul, underscoring the extent to which being featured at the popular retailer can be a catalyst for a brand’s growth. The development also helped bring new content creators into iNNBeauty Project’s community: incoming influencers collectively generated $555.9K EMV for the brand in Q4, well above the $400.3K driven by Q3 influencers who subsequently dropped off.
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